Quick answer: Immersive training uses tools like VR headsets and 3D digital instructions to let apprentices practice electrical tasks in a simulated environment before doing them on the job. By giving trainees more opportunities to repeat tasks, work through mistakes, and build confidence, the technology could help apprenticeship programs prepare new electricians for the field.
An apprentice can read about an electrical installation, watch someone demonstrate it, and practice in a lab. Immersive training adds another opportunity: doing the work repeatedly in a simulated environment, where mistakes don't carry real-world consequences.
Immersive training was at the center of a conversation between Dave Quatela, head of strategic marketing at Siemens, and Cory Heizenrader, CEO of EducationXR, at the NAED Marketing Summit in Indianapolis. In an interview produced by Trade Hounds, the two discussed how extended reality is evolving and why they believe it could play a role in preparing the next generation of electricians.
Their argument comes as the industry faces a difficult challenge: replacing experienced workers who are retiring while preparing the next generation to do increasingly complex work. Immersive training could give apprentices more opportunities to build the competency and confidence they need before stepping onto a live jobsite.
Electricians are leaving the industry faster than new ones are coming in. Federal data shows how much replacement work the industry faces. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects about 72,700 openings for electricians each year, on average, from 2025 to 2035.
It expects many of those openings to come from the need to replace workers who change occupations or leave the labor force, including through retirement. Over the same period, BLS projects electrician employment to grow 9%, much faster than the average for all occupations.
The pressure is showing up on jobsites now. In a September 2026 analysis of federal job openings data, Associated Builders and Contractors chief economist Anirban Basu said nonresidential contractors "will likely experience faster labor cost escalation due to these shortages in certain occupational categories like electricians and HVAC workers" (Source: Associated Builders and Contractors, 2026).
Recruiting new electricians is only part of the challenge. Preparing them to work independently takes years. Most electricians learn the trade through a four- or five-year apprenticeship, with about 2,000 hours of paid on-the-job training each year plus technical instruction (Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). If the industry wants to close the gap, it needs to find ways to help apprentices develop competency while maintaining the hands-on experience the trade requires.
Heizenrader traced the current moment back to hardware. Early energy around XR came from companies like Meta, HTC and Samsung commercializing headsets. Since then, he said, the field has "evolved from this nascent technology into more mature software that support that technology as well as other devices that make it easier for enterprise organizations to adopt it."
"Immersive training gives us the opportunity to do what is a term or a phrase commonly used in the military: sets and reps," Heizenrader said. "It gives users the ability to simulate experiences multiple times. [They can] make mistakes, have successes, but more importantly, make those mistakes before you get into the real technology where there are consequences."
For electrical work, that distinction carries weight. A simulated installation gives apprentices room to work through mistakes before they encounter comparable tasks in the field, where errors can carry serious safety and financial consequences. "You can experience the consequences in a virtual environment," he said.
Quatela framed it as a complement to the lab and textbook model that apprenticeship programs already use: a way to build muscle memory in a controlled setting, then carry those reps into hands-on work.
Earlier field testing by Trade Hounds and Siemens points in the same direction. In a Dallas training lab, four electrical apprentices installed a Siemens panel using 3D instructions on an Apple Vision Pro headset. All four said the XR instructions were easy to understand and reduced mental effort. "I felt like I was at the job site," said 24-year-old apprentice Clayton Henson.
Heizenrader pointed out that gaming technology is mature and familiar, and that training now runs on the same kind of platforms. "Now we're really gamifying training education. And with that, the goal is always to accelerate knowledge transfer," he said. "We need to increase knowledge transfer to train people faster and qualify more people to fill those empty seats."
Quatela tied that directly to recruiting. "Those 18- to 25-year-olds are attracted to digital training because that's what they grew up with," he said.
Trade Hounds polling offers some insight into younger workers' familiarity with immersive technology. Among Gen Z respondents, 67% said they had used VR multiple times. Interest in training applications was also high: 90% of respondents to a separate poll said they were interested in an app offering 3D digital training for product installations
Competency is only part of the equation. Confidence matters, too, and Heizenrader said repeated practice can help apprentices build both.
"With competency, I'll throw another C word in there too, and I'll mention confidence," he said. "Being able to do something multiple times gives me that confidence, gives me that competency to be able to perform when it really matters in real life scenarios."
Quatela offered a personal example. "I was that kid in the classroom that sat in the back, tried to hide, didn't want to answer the question for fear of being called out for either not knowing the material or scared to look bad in front of my peers," he said. With this kind of technology, he added, he could have practiced at home and come back with full confidence.
Heizenrader drew a line between reading and doing. "Reading books is ingesting knowledge. It's really important, no question," he said. "But when we are working, we're actually doing."
Recruiting new apprentices is only part of the challenge. Keeping them in the program long enough to graduate is another. A 2024 study of more than 335,000 construction apprentices who entered registered programs between 2012 and 2023 found that 40.1% had cancelled their apprenticeships by the end of the study period. About one-quarter had completed, while 35% were still registered when the study ended.
Quatela said apprenticeship programs also lose a significant share of students in the first year. He argued that immersive training could help address attrition by giving apprentices more opportunities to build skills and confidence.
"We need to be able to challenge that status quo and be able to embed this technology into these apprenticeship networks so that we can decrease the attrition rate, increase graduation rates, and close that gap for the skilled labor," he said.
Heizenrader made the case that immersive learning suits the kind of person the trades need. "You're not looking for scholars, right? You're looking for doers—people that can perform, people that can think on their feet, that can combine knowledge with action," he said.
He summed up the technology in three words. "This is a rehearsal technology."
AI could change immersive training in two ways: by making simulations more responsive to an apprentice's decisions and by speeding up the process of building training modules.
Today, a training exercise might walk an apprentice through a fixed sequence of steps. AI can help make that experience more dynamic, with scenarios that change based on the trainee's choices and require them to adapt as they go.
"AI gives us the ability to create more content for training and education, to create more dynamic experiences so that I'm not just going through sequential steps," Heizenrader said. Instead, he explained, trainees can face different scenarios depending on their decisions and actions, forcing them to adjust and think on their feet.
AI can also help developers build those experiences more quickly. Quatela noted that storyboarding and scoping immersive training modules can be time-consuming. Heizenrader said developers can use AI to turn a plain-language description into a structured training experience without having to write code for every step.
Immersive training won't solve the electrician shortage on its own. But with about 72,700 electrician job openings projected each year from 2025 to 2035, preparing the next generation of workers remains a pressing challenge for the electrical industry.
XR gives apprentices more opportunities to practice, build skills, and gain confidence before applying what they've learned on the jobsite. That additional practice could help apprenticeship programs better prepare workers for the demands of the field and support the industry's efforts to address the electrician shortage.
What is immersive training for electricians?
Immersive training uses tools such as VR headsets, mixed-reality headsets, and 3D digital instructions on tablets to simulate electrical tasks. Apprentices can walk through an installation step by step, repeat it, and make mistakes without real-world consequences. It is generally used to supplement lab work and classroom instruction, not to replace hands-on training.
How could XR training help with the electrician shortage?
The idea is to speed up knowledge transfer. If apprentices can practice tasks many times in a simulated setting, they may build competency and confidence faster. Supporters also argue that digital, game-like training appeals to younger workers and could help apprenticeship programs keep more students through graduation.
Does immersive training replace hands-on apprenticeship work?
No. Most electricians still learn through a four- or five-year apprenticeship that combines paid on-the-job training with technical instruction. Immersive training is positioned as a way to rehearse before hands-on work, so apprentices arrive at the real task with more repetitions behind them.
How is AI being used in trades training?
AI can generate branching training scenarios where the next step depends on the trainee's decisions, which better reflects real jobsite problem-solving. It can also speed up building training modules, letting developers describe an experience in plain sentences rather than writing code. Accuracy matters, so content should be based on verified product and installation data.
This conversation is part of Trade Hounds' ongoing series featuring the people shaping the trades, from manufacturers and distributors to the electricians doing the work. Follow Trade Hounds on YouTube for more conversations about the industry's biggest challenges and emerging solutions.